Violations on the rise in Bahrain regime: Rights group

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - A Bahraini rights group has reported an unprecedented rise in human rights violations in Bahrain, saying the abuses are taking place in a more systematic manner.

In its annual report, titled “Bahrain...The Map of Persecution: Undermining Civil Society” and released on Sunday, the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) said it had documented 2,389 rights violations in 2016, including 337 cases of violations of the right to freedom of religion.

The report added that the Manama regime illegally revoked the citizenship of 306 people last year while arbitrarily arresting some 1,246 others, including 185 children.

“The Bahraini authorities failed to provide effective administrative or judicial reference for those who were stripped of their nationalities, and stirred up lawsuits of illegal stay and forced deportation against some of them,” it said.

The BFHR further said that, “The Bahraini authorities have imposed a complete ban on peaceful assembly since 2014, and have used excessive force to disperse demonstrators since 2011, which have caused 4,997 injuries.”

The rights group also said that the Bahraini regime approved legislation and made changes to certain laws in order to be able to prosecute activists.

It also called for the lifting of the ban imposed on the right to peaceful assembly and for an end to the restrictions on the right to freedom of expression.

Anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country on February 14, 2011. People have been demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

The regime has been cracking down on all dissent since then.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or been arrested as a result of Bahrain’s crackdown.